Word Origin & History

antipodes "place on the opposite side of the earth," late 14c., from L. antipodes "those who dwell on the opposite side of the earth," from Gk. antipodes, pl. of antipous "with feet opposite (ours)," from anti- "opposite" + pous "foot" (see foot), thus people who live on the opposite side of the world. Not to be confused with antiscii "those who live on the same meridian on opposite side of the equator," whose shadows fall at noon in the opposite direction, from Gk. anti- + skia "shadow.""Yonde in Ethiopia ben the Antipodes, men that haue theyr fete ayenst our fete." ["De Proprietatibus Rerum Bartholomeus ...Anglicus," translated by John of Trevisa, 1398]Related: Antipodal (adj., 1640s); antipodean (1630s)